Grant to benefit forest

EDWARDSVILLE – The new nature preserve that opens soon on New Poag Road is unique. It is home to the only old growth forest in Madison County, and one of only two in the entire Metro East area.

"It is essentially an undisturbed old growth forest, which is highly significant for a lot of different wildlife," says Mary Vandevord, president and CEO of Heartlands Conservancy. The agency wrote the grant application on behalf of the city of Edwardsville. Last week, the City Council approved the $986,290 award from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation that allows the city to purchase the 71-acre property from Nancy Taber.

The property, which is adjacent to Bohm Woods State Nature Preserve, will be known as the William C. Drda Woods, named for Taber's father.

The purchase will allow the city to protect giant hardwood trees and dozens of rare migratory birds such as the cerulean warbler. During the winter, the cerulean warbler winters in mountainous areas in South America.

"It's a quite beautiful, striking blue bird," Vandevord said Monday. "It's one of a whole bunch of species in Bohm Woods that are on the state's list of "those in greatest need of conservation." So preserving the property next to it and reforesting it "will actually help preserve those species because they will be protected from noise, light and other things that would cause them not to want to habitate there. It's actually a really important piece in the migration of birds from South America up to the north."

The acquisition is "highly significant from a state-wide perspective," Vandevord said. The property there has been designated as a Grade A forest, which applies to less than 1 percent of wooded areas in the state.

Money for the grant comes not from state coffers but from the ICECF, an independent foundation formed in December of 1999 with a $225 million endowment provided by Commonwealth Edison.

The group's mission has been to improve energy efficiency, advance the development and use of renewable energy sources, and protect natural areas and wildlife habitat in communities across Illinois.

Jolie Krasinski is program director for ICECF. She is impressed "by the strong commitment of the city administration and the people of Edwardsville to protect and care for nature." She wished the three partnering organizations "great success in creating a new, publicly accessible natural area at this location." The project "is in good hands, and thoughtful management can result in a high quality preserve, worthy of its connection to Bohm Woods Nature Preserve."

The grant comes with an additional grant of $10,000 to be applied to habitat restoration, she said.

The application met all the criteria for such a project. There were several other factors that made it a compelling grant opportunity, she said in an email message:

• The property has a direct connection to Bohm Woods Nature Preserve, and the statewide significance of the natural resources, including some old growth trees;

• The public-private partnership between the city of Edwardsville, the Illinois Nature Preserve Commission, and the Heartland Conservancy (and the fact that the habitat "will be protected in perpetuity via a conservation easement"); and

• the strong community support for the project.

To be eligible for the grant, the city had to agree to keep the property open, although reasonable restrictions to protect sensitive habitat are allowed. It must also be managed as a wildlife habitat and not as a ball field or a green space area.

Heartlands Conservancy will retain ownership of the easement in order to protect the habitat and restrict some uses and development, Krasinksi noted.

In the last three decades, the Heartlands Conservancy has preserved nearly 9,000 acres in southwestern Illinois, Vandevord said. They include helping preserve parts of the Choteau Island complex, and a project to preserve the Arlington Wetlands in Pontoon Beach.